US visa service fees to get cheaper

The American Embassy today said visa facilitation fees would drop 38 per cent to Rs 276, as against Rs 441 at present, following a change in the visa agent.

The new facilitation fee will be effective from October 3, 2005. The American Embassy has signed a three-year agreement with VFS India Ltd and has decided to terminate its contract with TTS Ltd. Since 2000, the Embassy had a visa facilitation agreement with TTS.

"The new contract with VFS India will come into effect from October 3 and the primary reason for selecting the company in the bidding process was the reduction in the prices," said William Bartlett, Consular-General, American Embassy.

Under the new agreement, HDFC will collect the facilitation fees along with the visa fee of $100 from each applicant. The applicants will be given a bar code by the bank which can be used to fix an appointment for a visa interview.

This was to ensure that all applicants were present at the time of appointments for visas and that the process of granting of visas was faster, added Bartlett. The applicants will be able to make payment of the visa fees at 32 HDFC branches across 12 cities in the country.

The bank will also include two cities in Punjab and two new cities in Andhra Pradesh in the coming months.

Bank of America will supervise the whole deal, between the American Embassy and VFS India Ltd. 'The onus of ensuring transparency and lesser delays lies with us and we will facilitate the transactions between the Embassy and VFS,' said Kuresh Sarjan, Senior VP, Bank of America.